Author: WhistleBlowerStaff

Monsanto Whistleblower Receives $22.5M

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Monsanto Whistleblower
A former Monsanto Co. financial executive who tipped off regulators about the agribusiness giant’s accounting practices involving rebates for its Roundup weed-killer will get nearly $22.5 million as a whistleblower, federal securities regulators announced Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016 KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Monsanto Co. financial executive who tipped off regulators about the agribusiness giant’s accounting practices involving rebates for its Roundup weed-killer will get nearly $22.5 million a...
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Deutsche Bank Whistleblower Turned Down $8.25 million Reward

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A whistleblower who helped reveal false accounting at Deutsche Bank has refused an $8.25 million award from a U.S. securities regulator because of the agency's failure to punish bank executives, the Financial Times reported. Eric Ben-Artzi, a former Deutsche Bank risk officer, wrote in an opinion article in the Financial Times that the $55 million U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission penalty on which the award is based should have been paid by Deutsche's executives. Ben-Artzi, his law...
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IRS Rewards For Tax Whistleblowers

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The Tax Court yesterday in a key case (Whistleblower 21276-13W v. CIRPY +% – 147 TC 4) held that IRS whistleblowers can get awards not only in situations where taxes are collected under Title 26 but also when the taxpayer pays criminal fines and civil forfeitures.   Great news not just for the whistleblowers involved in this case (and for me as well — as the whistleblowers’ lead attorney in this case). But great news as well for all whistleblowers and the whistleblower program. Potential whist...
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New Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Gain Traction in Congress

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A bipartisan group of House members on Thursday unveiled a Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act (H.R. 5920), following movement last month on a similar bill in the Senate. The bipartisan measure would give subgrantees and personal services contractors the same whistleblower protections currently afforded contractors, grant recipients and subcontractors. “Whistleblowers are the front line of defense against waste, fraud, and abuse," read a joint statement from Reps. Elijah Cummings...
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Bipartisan Letter Questions Watchdog’s Whistleblower Program

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Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). Photo via Flick't user Gage Skidmore. Bipartisan Letter Questions DoD's Whistleblower Program While it is clear that numerous deficiencies remain within the DoD’s system for handling cases of whistleblower reprisal, the Congressional letter is a welcome indication that concern over the unlawful treatment of whistleblowers by the Pentagon is garnering increasing external attention that could help catalyze reform. A bipartisan group of Members of Congres...
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Limits On Whistleblower Suits Over Regulations

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The U.S. Supreme Court made it a little harder for lawyers to press whistleblower lawsuits over minor violations of government contract terms, but the court’s unanimous decision in Universal Health Services v. Escobar might also make it harder for defendants to dismiss suits before entering the expensive evidence-gathering phase known as discovery. The decision by Justice Clarence Thomas follows a middle path between the position of the government — that violating a single requirement, no m...
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$663 Million in Penalties for Maker of Guardrail

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A Texas federal judge handed down a $663 million judgment Tuesday against Trinity Industries, the guardrail maker accused of producing a faulty product that can jam and spear through vehicles. The judgment stems from the trial held last year in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by Josh Harman, a competitor who discovered in 2011 that Trinity had made a critical change to the dimensions of its ET-Plus guardrail in 2005, but failed to tell federal regulators as required by law. The jury found t...
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$3.5 Million Whistleblower Awarded By SEC

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The Security and Exchange Commission announced a whistleblower award of over $3.5 million to a company employee whose tip bolstered an ongoing investigation with additional evidence of wrongdoing that strengthened the SEC’s case. By law, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity. For some background, the SEC’s whistleblower program has now awarded more than $62 million to 28 w...
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$13 Million Settlement To Whistleblower In HUGE Logistics Outsourcing Fraud Case

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In August 2007, after a year of soliciting bids from companies nationwide like Federal Express and UPS, the Pentagon awarded a $1.635 billion contract to Menlo Worldwide Government Services of San Mateo and related firms to handle all Defense Department shipping in the United States. At the time, the contract was labeled by the trade newspaper Transport Topics as “the largest logistics outsourcing in history.” The deal also was the opportunity for a massive fraud, according to a complaint ...
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Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Prevails in Administrative Review Board Appeal

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The Department of Labor Administrative Review Board’s decision in Dietz v. Cypress Semiconductor Corp., establishes important precedent on the broad scope of protected whistleblowing under the whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and clarifies the standard for proving constructive discharge. Dietz’s SOX Whistleblower Case Dietz brought suit under the SOX whistleblower law, alleging that Cypress constructively discharged him in retaliation for disclosing to James Nulty, a Sen...
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